


Protection Squad

by Novirp13



Series: Tony Stark Adopted Ghost-Sensitive Kids [7]
Category: Bleach, Danny Phantom, Iron Man (Movies), Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), 不機嫌なモノノケ庵 | Fukigen na Mononokean | The Morose Mononokean
Genre: BAMF Danny Fenton, BAMF Kurosaki Ichigo, BAMF Tony Stark, Death adores Tony Stark, Everyone is BAMF, Fluff and Humor, Protective Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-03 00:26:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14556879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Novirp13/pseuds/Novirp13
Summary: A warning from the Mistress of Death turned the cogwheel of Fate to a better future for Tony





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Typo is my most loyal fan. Spelling mistakes because English is not my mother language. Possibly OOC. Fluff. NOT BETA so beware of grammar mistakes

It was summer holiday for the school, a time where every student decided to go on a vacation with their precious people. A fact Tony knew so well, he practically jumping on his foot, begging J to video-called the kids,  _quick I miss them so much!_

(Even though he just called them yesterday. But detail~)

The first one who answered the call was Takashi. From the position of his camera, he rested the phone on the stack of his book while he was doing his homework. Smiling, he put the pen down, "Hi, Tony. It was unusual for you to call me when it was still seven morning in your place?"

"Yeaah, I hate time-zone," Tony complained, "but you kid should not stay up too late. If I called you at nine, that means it was ten in your place. That's your curfew!"

Takashi rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. It was basically true, except his Youkai friends love to visit him at late in the night just to arranged their favorite sake party. The supposed bodyguard of his was too happy with that and will always let them inside the barrier, no matter how many times he told them not to disturbed him when it was time for a human to sleep. The said cat was trotting and climbed onto his lap, basically ordered Takashi to combed his fur with his fingers.

The second who answered the call was Hanae and Haruitsuki simultaneously. Looks like they were in the same place, judging from the background. In their friend place—Zenko, if he remembered it right—as he saw the fox Youkai longing around the hallway. The blonde was still wearing his kimono, "are you working till night again, Itsuki-chan? It was not good for your health, you know."

"Speak for yourself," Haruitsuki snorted amusedly, pushing Hanae from his personal space and told him that he has his own phone to talk to the brunette and didn't need to peer through his, "I saw that bags under your eyes. You're worse than me."

As Tony pouted and let out a ton of excuses, another one answered. It was Ichigo, standing on nothing but air, wearing his hakama and his big, butcher knife rested on his shoulder, "oh, hi Tony."

"You too? You kids are so busy!" he shifted the hologram that contained Takashi's video-call to the front so they could see him, "take an example of Takashi-chan! He's being a good student he is and doing his homework!"

"Abeno-san and I are doing our summer homework as we talk, Tony-san."

"I just finished three of it. I'm not letting Kon touch my work."

"And Nishimura invited me to sleep-over and have a pillow fight. I'll be going after I finished this section of questions."

" _ARRGH! YOU'RE GANGING UP ON ME!"_

While the other laughed at Tony miserable form, the last of his kids finally returned his call. It was nothing but darkness though, so Tony was confused (and suddenly have this dark feeling that the youngest of his kid was in trouble. He's a hero of his town. He was hunted by the ghosts and his own parents oh my God, did something happen to him?  _No, not again—_ ) before a sleepy voice echoed, "'llo? Who's this?"

JARVIS obligingly opened up the subtitle and translated Danny's English words into Japanese so the other kids could understand him.

"Danny, this is video-call my boy. Pull your phone away from your ear," (he sighed in relief. Nothing. No disaster rained on this young hero then. Just him waking up late). Tony put his arms on his waist, trying to scowl though it looked like a pout when Danny figure was free to see; his face was smush onto his fluffy pillow and his messy locks seem wilder than usual, "my god, you're the worse of us all. It's already seven in the morning, wake up already."

"It's  _ONLY_  seven in the mo'ning," he grumbled, "Skulke' kept me up late. When I finally captu'e him, it was al'eady five AM. Let me slee..."

Before he could finish his words however, his grip on his phone slacked and the gadget tumbled near the side of his pillow, showing them the background of his ceiling; the glowing-in-the-dark-stars wallpaper was blinking lazily.

Tony chewed his bottom lips, worried. He knew about Skulker's accomplishments, knew it full well how dangerous he was after that one incident. After that time, when he decided he wanted to pester Itsuki-chan and called for Mononokean's service. He was speaking animatedly with Hanae, while the blonde was fuming at the background ( _Mononokean is not some living room for you to chat, goddammit_ ), the silent Mistress suddenly perked up. He couldn't really tell because Death didn't have any skin on her, but he knew she was worried about something.

" _ **Tony."**_  She started, voice turned somber,  _ **"you have to see Danny Fenton-Phantom, now. And bring Kuchiki Rukia with you. Hurry."**_

He didn't question her—she's the leader of all Spirit anyway. She knew anything that concerned the life of a soul—and asked Mononokean to open the shortcut into Ichigo's room. It was fortunate when the orange-haired teen and the girl herself were present, debating over their homework. Rukia was confused when her friend's door connected to a tatami room since-when-she-didn't-realized (maybe it was the Youkai version of Senkaimon, she concluded). Yet one look at Tony's serious face, she agreed to come with him, Ichigo was not far behind. The moment the billionaire opened the opposite door that connected to their youngest kid's room, he choked.

On the tiled floor, was Danny, pale complexion full of anguish. He was curled up near his bed, clutching the side of his stomach, trying to reign the blood back but to no avail. It oozes so much blood—green and red—Tony felt like he wanted to vomit.

Hanae and Haruitsuki gasped, tone laced with pure horror. The Shinigamies cursed, Ichigo ushered the first grader back inside the Mononokean as Rukia immediately rushed into the room, hand glowing green. The half-Shinigami wanted Tony to go away too when he saw the man froze in shock, brown orbs gleaming with hidden nightmares, but he persisted. He helped Rukia to pull Danny up and laid him into a more comfortable position.

The brunette almost threw up right there and then when he saw the injury. It was a hole. Like someone bit the side of his stomach off, flesh and bone and nearly lose his kidney in the process (fuck! Is that his intestine?).

_(Please no. Not again. Not after those innocent people in Afghanistan. Not after Yinsen. No—)_

Tony didn't really know what happened. Something about Danny's power already in the process of healing him and Rukia's Kido helped accelerate the work. One thing he remembered though, the moment Danny woke up, Tony and Hanae engulfed him in a tight hug; Hanae was crying a river, Tony almost followed suit.

(He was relieved Takashi was not here. He didn't think Hanae, Haruitsuki or even Tony could sleep well tonight)

Danny was reluctant to tell the story when he saw a stranger in his room. But Ichigo assured him that Rukia is a shinigami just like him and will not tell his secret to anyone. (They also knew if Danny's secret threatened the balance, the Mistress will never warn Tony about his grave injury in the first place and will let him die in his own pool of blood). Danny sighed. And—wheezed—finally told them what actually happens. Skulker, his self-proclaimed arch-enemy, was provided with another weapon Fruitloop concocted. It was actually effective for a halfa like him, definitely because Vlad had been experimenting on his own body to know the effectiveness. He didn't comprehend the danger of the weapon. Yet when Skulker got a lucky hit on him, he accidentally let out his ghostly wail as he screamed in pure agony. Danny caught him when the robot ghost was too stunned to react, threw him into the Ghost Zone and that was how Tony found him in his room, trying to move and heal the damage but was too tired.

The one who almost killed him was Skulker. Still, the one who provides the means was the older halfa and that basically means he was the main reason one of his kids almost die.

The billionaire really wanted that mayor out of existence, he really did. Maybe not outright kill him, but ruin his reputation so much, he'll spend most of his money just to get back to his current status. Though, Danny being a sweetheart he was, shook his head and said he is his Dad's comrade. No matter how the grey-haired old cot wanted the man gone for good and claimed his mother and himself as his family (that was a sick, sick plan. Even Hanae, the sweetest of them all, mad at a mere idea of it), his Dad still considered him as a friend.

Tony heard his soft snore from the video-call and decided to let him be. He didn't know anything about biology, especially a biology of a halfa. He could create a tech that will protect him from the ghosts, parry them away whenever they came too close. Then again, Danny was half-ghost himself, it could backfire on him. So Tony didn't. And let the Hero sleep to regain his strength.

(Maybe he'll learn biology after this. Or let a specialist teach him someday)

"Okay, with Danny's out cold, let's continue our conversation!" Tony chirped. He saw Natsume was already on the front door, Hanae and Haruitsuki closed their book and was sipping the orange juice-he waved at the arriving Zenko, in which the smaller girl waved back-and Ichigo was walking leisurely on the air to his way home, "the summer holiday already started right? Why not visit New York for a change and look at my new building? It's awesome! We have everything here; from the pool, recreation room, and bar~"

"We're still underaged, Tony-san."

"Detail, Takashi-chan. What I'm saying is, accompany me in this lonely place of mine!" he swayed, "Pepper is busy with her corporation, Rhodey is on another country doing his soldier thingy and even Happy is visiting his family. I'm boreeedd! No offense, J."

"None taken, sir" the robotic voice echoed from the ceiling.

"Oh, and I also created a translation device for you," he produced a wireless earphone from his work desk. It was tiny and fit perfectly into the earlobe, "just tap it twice and you can understand every single language! I'm gonna mass produced this, but you lot need to be my first guinea pig."

"His guinea pig, he said," Ichigo snorted, "I don't need that if we only stay in New York, but Yuzu and Karin might. So I ordered two of them. Rukia said some lower Shinigami will take my post, so I'm actually,  _really,_  gonna have a free time for a full holiday."

"You will bring your twins too?" Tony loved them. Yuzu was so sweet and Karin was a tomboy, they practically complement each other, "yes! The more the merrier!"

"And I supposed you'll use Mononokean to cross over the country, right?" Haruitsuki sighed. He gave up a long time ago. That, even Mononokean was happy to be the taxi for these unruly children (at least Takashi and Ichigo have the decency to feel guilty), "fine. But I couldn't always come over. I have my duty as the master of Mononokean."

"What about me, Abeno-san?"

"You can go anytime you want. I never depend on you anyway."

" _YOU'RE SO CRUEL!"_

"I already asked Fujiwara-san actually. The moment the summer holiday started, I have a feeling you'll ask this question," Tony innocently whistled and Takashi chuckled, "I'll come over tomorrow at this time of day, so you better wake up early."

"I will don't worry. J will wake me up, right J?"

"For you sir, always."

"What about you, Zenko-chan?"

"I'm sorry, Tony-san. But I don't think my father will allow me," she informed sadly. She obviously wanted to visit New York. But his father still couldn't let him loose with Hanae and Haruitsuki, even though she already said multiple times there was nothing between them, "besides, the summer festival will be held in our temple this year. So, I'll be busy helping my father around as it is."

"Aw, pity. I really want you to see my tower though." Tony pouted.

"Someday, okay?" Zenko let out a soft smile.

Tony enthusiastically nodded.

The billionaire flicked his finger to the still background of Danny's video-call, "and left a message for Danny-boy too. He needs to get a rest sometimes and let his parents hunt the ghost. He's underage, he needs his beauty sleep. Don't want that baby face of him wrinkled because of lack of rest. And tell him to eat more vegetable. And meat. And—"

"Should I remind you that you also need to listen to your own advice yourself?" JARVIS cut his owner's rambling, tone disapproving, "you can't keep living by coffee and smoothies alone, sir. Even the Mistress agree with me."

"Detail, J!  _Detail!_ You two just wanted to smother me with love, don't ever fool me!"

"Oh, and Tony," Ichigo step inside his room, kicked Kon/Ichigo on his back when he saw him reading some adult manga he-didn't-know-where-he-get-that, "I'll pay in installment for the earphone after you set your price. I haven't found a good place for me to work part-time at, my job as Shinigami wasted my time enough."

"Huh?" the billionaire looked really confused, "what are you talking about, Ichigo-chan? You don't have to pay me. It's a gift."

"Tony-san...do you remember what I said about 'don't spoil them or they'll turn into a cat'?" Takashi started, tone dangerous and Tony wilted, "Abeno-san already saved us a lot of money for this back and forth trip," the Mononokean charge 100 yen for the two-way trip, something that Takashi and Ichigo were stubborn about even though the Youkai tried to discourage them. If it was not because of him, they'll need to used their own money to buy the plane ticket, which is expensive as heck. Or worse, Tony happily spend his money for them, "if you want to freely give it to someone, give it to Abeno-san. Count it as your payment for using the Mononokean. While Ichigo-san, Ashiya-san and I will pay for it."

"I think that over-charge it a bit too much, Natsume-san," Haruitsuki drawled, "but a translator is a nice gadget to have. So I'm not complaining."

"I'll pay for it too, Tony-san!"

"You still have a debt to me, stupid Ashiya."

"Kh! But at least I can get my money right away if I do a part-time! You never give me enough to pay off the debt!"

"That was because you kept messing up the job!"

Tony was speechless. Even though he really considered giving them the first prototype as a gift, they insisted on paying for it? He didn't need their money, they knew that. He's rich. He's a billionaire. Why were they—

" _ **That's called tact,"**_  the Mistress slowly appeared near his shoulder, wrapping her bony skeleton hands on his neck,  _ **"You should've known by now, Tony. Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy told you multiple times already. And now these kids too."**_

" _ **They're a good influence for you."**_

He watched Hanae and Haruitsuki bickering like always. Takashi snickered at their childish argument. And Ichigo started doing his homework, while occasionally glanced at the phone to watch the entertainment (Danny was still sleeping). And he wanly smiled.

"Yeah, I know."

_But it still surprises me anyway._

* * *

The next day after tomorrow, the Japanese kids finally have the time to visit him; Danny said he'll come with Sam and Tucker after he found Dani (his twin, something that Tony balked at. And his urges to kill Vlad rose after he knew the origin of the small girl) so he'll protect the town when he was gone, "I'll contact you when I'm ready" Danny said when the adult asked for his whereabouts.

They were in his lab right now. Takashi and Hanae were having fun playing with Dum-E and Butterfinger, Nyanko and Fuzzy were watching from the top of their heads. Haruitsuki slept on the sofa to rest from the tiring job this afternoon—Hanae-chan said they had to save the Youkai from drowning. And Ichigo was speaking with the Mistress of Death, asking her about the future of Japan Shinigami (Aizen was still alive and well after all) in which the Death could only answer in cryptic as she couldn't give all the information or it'll turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. It was a pity Yuzu and Karin couldn't come today because their father was being annoying again and someone needs to watch over him, no matter how much Karin grumbled over it.

Tony was happy. Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy will always be his best friends, but they already lost all of the innocence they had after growing up. Not like this kid doesn't have their own darkness inside (Takashi was haunted by the nightmare of his childhood. Haruitsuki turned solemn whenever Youkai asked about how he got his title as the master of Mononokean. Ichigo already fought a war twice and still fighting. Even Danny was having his own difficulty with his double persona. Maybe Hanae was the only one who was still not touched by the cruelty of the world. And he has his own problem trying to discover the real identity of his father too). Yet their presence was like a fresh air. And they understand him for living in an entirely different world, seeing all these invisible creature people never believe exist.

He watched them sluggishly run around the lab. Time-zone finally kicked in, it seems, so Tony will let them rest for a while before he started the tour. His word had to be cut unfortunately when Pepper burst through the door, looking conflicted and wanted to rage at anything for the stress she shouldered right now.

"Oh, you're all here already?" yet her manner caught up to her the moment she saw Tony's guests and smiled, "thank you for coming all the way here. Tony kept distracting me from work with his phone-calls. I hope you can entertain him for a while."

"Pepper, what's wrong?" he stood up from his bench. The sudden silence woke Haruitsuki from his slumber.

"Nothing. It was just..." she scowled, "Coulson is here."

"Agent?"

They experienced it first-hand of how Natasha Romanova worked; deceit, manipulation. They knew SHIELD will do anything to get whatever they want in the name of experiment and justice, almost killing JARVIS in the process after the dark skin baldy's  _dare_  turned his butler off; they are spy agents, enough said. Pepper may saw Coulson in a different light, thought that he was nice, but they knew. They knew the nicest will be always the most dangerous. Especially when one day, after Tony's friend could finally saw the Mistress of Death with the help of Tooru's grandfather's invention, she told him to take everything SHIELD told them with a grain of salt. The Mistress, the God of Death said it herself. The one who mother-hen Tony like her own child.

Of course it was obvious which option they'll believe more.

"Does he want to talk about Nicky's boy band?" Tony scowled, "didn't I said I don't want to join?"

Pepper shrugged, "you know they're stubborn. Just...hear him and we'll walk from there."

At that exact moment, Coulson finally arrived at his lab, expression stuck in a polite mode and black coat crisp. He rose an eyebrow at seeing so many kids around Tony. He never met them before. Particularly with how they lounged across the room, touching Tony's gadget without the man reprimanding them to handle his 'children' with care, that means they already knew each other long enough to be this relax around the billionaire. Coulson almost paused when three of the four kids (that definitely not Americans) tapped their—his eyes narrowed—communication device twice. What was that device supposed to do? But he shook the thought away, walked toward Tony and said, "Mr. Stark. Can I talk to you and your assistant for a moment? Privately?"

He slightly flinched when the orange-haired teen glared at him with an intensity of an inferno. He tried to hide it. Yet Tony saw it anyway.

"Nope. Sorry, Agent," he grinned, mentally reminded himself to pat Ichigo's back, "whatever you wanna say, just say it. The kids will stay. I'm not going to hide anything again. Not after the disaster two years ago~"

Coulson wanted to protest. However, when even Pepper didn't open his mouth to coax Tony into accepting his proposal, he breathed. The agent of SHIELD pulled out a bundle of paper from his map and gave it to the assistant and she gave it to the genius, Tony leafed through it, "do you still remember about Director Fury proposal? This is the candidate for the member of the Avenger initiative."

(Tony still thought the Avenger is a ridiculous name)

(Judging from Ichigo snort in the background, he was not the only one)

" _ **These people will be your downfall,"**_  the Mistress suddenly said, nearly startled him, as her finger pointed to the certain people.

 _These people?_  He squinted. _But this person is—_

"Hey, Agent," without looking up, Tony said, "can you leave me and my assistant alone now? We still have something we need to do."

"Mr. Stark—"

"J, guide this good man to the elevator," he said, waving at the camera, "thank you for your time, Agent. See you again sometimes."

Coulson knew when he fought a futile battle. So he swallowed his words, nodded, and was gone.

"So!" he grinned at the staring kids, "about these people—"

"Wait a second, Tony." Ichigo cut him before he could say anything. He approached the adults, ducked under Tony's work desk and pulled out something; it shaped like a button. And it was small enough, nobody could ever realize it was there. A wiretap. Everybody present was shocked.

Ichigo sneered then spoke in English, "if you ever do something like this again, Agent. I'm going to hunt you. I don't care you're someone important or not. But trying to collect dirt on my friend and blackmailed him someday is something I despised so much. Remember that."

He let the wiretap fall onto the floor and crushed it with the heel of his boots.

* * *

Coulson watched in disbelief when his earphone crackled as it turned useless.

That was...unexpected.

He needs to tell this to Director Fury.

* * *

Silence.

Nyanko whistled, impressed, "how did you know he was trying to eavesdrop on us?"

"War taught you paranoia. His movement was too deliberate for someone who was just walking out from this room," he huffed, "by the way, Danny messaged me. He's ready to go."

Haruitsuki, without prompting, just walked to the bathroom door and chanted, "Mononokean, come."

A clutter could be heard, a sign of the Youkai abiding his master call. With a loud hiss, the room was ready to serve. The door across the aisle opened and Danny came through it, accompanied by his friends—who were gawking at the sudden appearance of the Youkai—he waved, "sorry I'm late. I need to do a double check before I leave the town on Dani's hand."

"Sam, Tucker. It was nice of you to come too," Tony grinned, "the contact worked fine for you, girl?"

The goth nodded, "Yup. I can see the Youkai just fine."

It was another upgrade of the little trinket they use to see Thing That Is Invisible. The idea came when Sam grumbled and said a glasses didn't suit her goth appearance at all. When Tony suggested the contact lens, he was almost suffocated to death by the power of her hug. Tucker still used the glasses though, as he really needs the prescription to see. And him without his glasses will decrease his charisma for ten percent, whatever he said.

After a round of introduction, Ichigo coughed, "Tony. About those people the Mistress said..."

"Oh, right," he laid the paper on the desk and let JARVIS scanned it so he could show the list to everyone without them crowding around to see the small paper, "the Mistress said these two people will be the cause of my downfall."

Pepper wear her 'special' glasses, nodded at the floating Mistress as she watched the big hologram was shown in the center of the room. Natasha Romanova. As expected. The other one though—

" _Captain America?!"_  Danny was the first one who showed them his disbelief, "but he's—" He stammered, hand flailing, trying to find a reason, though could only rest the case with a flimsy excuse, "...captain America..."

That was one way to end an argument.

"I understand your feeling, Danny-boy. He's everyone hero. Even my father couldn't stop singing praises about him," something that always colored his childhood bitter. He knew the man was supposed to be his best friend, by how he overworked himself to find the last place Captain America 'died', ignoring his family. But a child he was, he still absorbed every awesome legend the media served to everyone at face value, "I'm almost choked on myself when the Mistress told me. Couldn't really protest right away when Agent was here."

"Yeah! I mean, he's  _the_ Captain America!" Hanae exclaimed, "he's a legend, even I know him. So, why—"

They turned their attention to the Mistress. The God spoke,  _ **"that was it. A legend. Under his big muscle and brave countenance, he was also just a normal human being; has a feeling, wanted to be the best, and selfish at a time,"**_ she floated to the Hologram, watching the still picture of the Captain blankly. Her aura increased, almost suffocated everyone present before she cut it off (the God was...angry?),  _ **"he was a dancing monkey, as you all know. He knew how to shouted propaganda to everyone, knew how convinced citizen into agreeing with his opinion. He lived in a time where black and white were as clear as a sky. Never knew the existence of a grey area."**_

"So you said," Haruitsuki started, arriving at the conclusion, "he'll start judging Tony by his past as an ex-weapon designer?"

The Mistress nodded.

"Oh, seriously? That was such a petty reason! He was just as bad as Vlad," Danny complained, "we already have Takashi as our wolf in sheep clothing"  _('hey!')_ , "and Tony will work with another one? Takashi is okay because his punch couldn't affect anyone except Youkai"  _('come on!'_ ), "but him? He could obliterate everything! Is Tony going to be okay?"

"You're sad because he was also your hero, right Danny?" Sam asked. Danny nodded.

"I'm sick of meeting another double-face jerk. At least Takashi's side was fun, with his sarcasm and all..."

"I'm flattered..." Takashi deadpaned. Tucker snorted.

" _ **There will be also a secret he'll hide in the future, a secret that will be dangerous for your health and sanity, Tony,"**_ the Mistress shook her head when the brunette was ready to ask what that secret was,  _ **"I'm sorry, Tony. I already crossed the boundary by telling you this. But you have such a pure soul,"**_ she cradled his locks,  _ **"I don't want you to feel betrayed because you let someone like him into your circle of friends."**_

"I agree with her, Tony," Pepper said, she crossed her arms under her bosom, gaze fierce, "when you let someone into your heart, you let them in  _completely_. Just like your godfather."

Tony could do nothing to refute that because it was true.

(And it was too much. After all the debacle of Iron Man, he mourned)

(Mourned for the lost remaining family of his. Mourned for the lost of trust. Mourned for the betrayal)

"Don't worry, Tony," Ichigo stood, his tall figure loomed over the brunette almost protectively, "I won't let my friend face another betrayal. Not again."

(He must've remembered Soul Society condition after Aizen's shenanigans, Tony mussed)

He pouted, "but I'm the adult here. I'm  _the_  Iron Man!"

"Well, too bad then," Danny grinned, "you will never get rid of us. Not by a long shot~"

The other occupants nodded in determination as they chuckled when Tony whined because they were ganging up on him  _again it was not fair Pepper help me!_  The said woman just smirked and gave him a nonchalant shrug with a 'what can I do against all these protective kids?' face. Even the Mistress floated towards the kids' side, smug. Tony slumped, defeated. But inside, he was happy.

These kids were a good influence for him, the Mistress said.

He watched Takashi and Danny barter their famous wits, Sam bouncing around Ichigo because she met another shinigami, Tucker playing with his robots and Haruitsuki smacked Hanae when he was doing something stupid again.

Good influence indeed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of his kids hissed. And Captain America is now permanently on everyone's shit list

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh...I don't really remember Avenger the Movie. I mean...it has been six years already and Wikipedia didn't help me refresh my memory. What? Re-watch the film? Naah, don't have time for that. I don't wanna see Cap'n confrontation with Tony in the Helicarrier. That was the exact moment when I decided I could never like Cap'n. Superman, because he was too powerful I never like OP character (at least One-Punch Man is for comedy). Cap'n, because he was too gentleman lol that character was too mainstream for my taste. I always love someone like Tony anyway; the only reason why I watch Marvel movie sorry Marvel genuine fans!
> 
> And I'm sorry if I'm mistaking the order of the scene in Avenger. Like I said, it has been six years already. And this crossover is already AU on the get-go. All is fair in Alternate Universe `3`~
> 
> Typo is my most loyal fan. Spelling mistakes because English is not my mother language. Possibly OOC. Fluff. NOT BETA so beware of grammar mistakes

It was a week after their conversation, a week after the Avenger was reactivated. Ichigo tensed when Loki, a God from Asgardian came through a portal and terrorized the town. Even Danny was ready to go Ghost and help Tony from the sideline. But Takashi and Haruitsuki stopped them. And although they have the experience of battling with over-powerful enemies, they couldn't just barge into someone else fight without any plan. Especially as they will be invisible to naked eyes except for Tony, they will confuse everyone; that could turn up to be good or bad, but they couldn't take that risk. Ichigo gritted his teeth but acquiesced. While Danny fumed on the corner, watching Tucker and Sam playing the game on the dark-haired teen's PDA to calmed himself. He was mad because the Captain, even though they haven't seen them in person, was definitely ignoring Tony's suggestion, by the video feed from the Iron Man's suit JARVIS provided them to see. Said that it was not his turn, he was the Captain here and  _listened to my order_. Romanova didn't bat an eyelash when that happened.

He didn't know Captain America could be so presumptuous, the Mistress was right not to trust him.

(The God herself who was watching the fight from the sideline hummed. The scepter already affected the mind of the human. And it seems the Captain has fallen for its trap)

Ichigo woke up and stretched. It was ten in the morning. After a week in New York, his body finally adjusted to the time-zone, though he still prefers waking up late to pay for his sleepless night because of his 'job'. Tony called them yesterday night, said that Thor, the older brother of Loki came and was demanding for his brother freedom, causing the collateral damages as he rage. Before the orange-haired teen could even narrow his eyes, he assured them and said it ended as well as a raging thunder struck the earth; which is, not at all but at least he stopped. He agreed for SHIELD to capture Loki. However—

"I cannot let him be contained inside this...flying contraption," Thor voiced boomed, " it's not safe. Because if you let your guard down and Loki escaped, he'll bring us down with one flick of his magic. I demand a jail on the earth. Preferably a basement."

And Tony, as ready as he ever could be, suggested to used his tower temporarily. Until SHIELD could concoct their own jail for a God.

"I'm sorry I bring this...dangerous beings so close to you guys," he whispered, "but Thor was right. If we held him inside the Helicarrier, he could just destroy the machine and we'll be over. At least, on my tower, J will be ready to open the emergency route for everyone to escape."

"Don't worry, Tony-san." Hanae smiled, "as long as you're safe."

"And I wanted to meet with this Captain America already," Danny smirked, eyes glinted with hidden anger, "maybe I can give him a punch or two. Of course, when I'm invisible. So he'll freak out like a little girl."

Takashi evilly laughed. Tony was a little concerned.

( _These two kids will be the death of me someday,_  he mulled,  _maybe I influenced them too much_ )

(Eeeh...worth it)

So, today was the day they arrived at the tower. Or maybe they already were, as it was almost noon. Haruitsuki need to visit the Youkai world and after that, he'll bring Yuzu and Karin over to the Tower; they messaged him their father was having a sleep-over with his old friend. They also wanted to surprise Tony so Ichigo stayed silent. The billionaire will be happy too. Danny, Tucker, and Sam were probably inside Tony's lab again, trying to create another ghost weapons, combining their own tech with Tony's (they'll give him the prototype as a payment. Tony tried to refused but failed). Takashi and Hanae must be in the kitchen area, they loved to watch the view of New York city from there while sipping green tea.

 _Maybe I can see how Danny's and co. doing with their project,_  Ichigo hummed,  _some of their weapons maybe could drive out the normal ghost from coming too close to Yuzu and Karin._

Although before he could even go to the elevator, the Mistress suddenly popped in front of him. Without waiting, she spoke, the skeleton of her face was blank,  _ **"Tony need your help"**_

When Ichigo, run with all his might, arrived at the kitchen, he felt the tension arising. The members of the Avenger spread around the big kitchen, froze on their spot while watching the accumulating drama that has been going on for quite a while. Natasha and Fury were silence, assessing the situation. Thor was confused. Bruce looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here. While Hanae and Takashi were at the very end of the room; the first was trying so hard not to burst while the latter was glaring at Nyanko not to pounce, even though it was clear from his eyes he wanted that to happen at that very second. Tony and Steve were glaring faces to faces. And the self-righteous bastard's (said, surprisingly, Hanae the sweetest) next words made Ichigo blood boiled.

"Big man in a suit of armor. Take that out and what are you?"

Ichigo saw  _red._

 _That's_ fucking _it_

Before Tony could even open his mouth (definitely trying to get out from this situation by being a sarcastic billionaire he was), Ichigo slammed his fist on the wall, cracking it and startling everyone present. He stomped to the surprised Captain and glared so heatedly, he was sure his Reiatsu was leaking out, judging from the sweat rolling down the blonde's temple.

" _What_ _is_ _Tony?_ " he growled, low and menacing, "He's the guy who built the suit in a cave, from nothing but scraps. Right under the nose of terrorist that caught him, who tried to break him by torturing him with waterboarding for three  _fucking_  months. He miniaturizing the arc reactor into a size of a palm, not just for a fashion statement, but save his heart from being skewered by the very weapon he built. The weapon he sold to the American government for the protection of New York citizen but was sold illegally by his fucker of a godfather. Someone he trusted so much because his father said so. And that's saying something for Howard, your best buddy that you thought was all sunshine and rainbow, right? He was a fucking weapon designer. Just like Tony here was. Why did you single him out and only cauterize Tony, huh?"

"Tony is the guy with an IQ of 180—which means he's the genius of all people out there—who graduated MIT  _summa cum laude_  at age 17, the guy who has four masters and three PhDs in various fields. He's the one of the world's leading expert in computer programming, engineering and robotic and the very first person in all humanity who created a working Artifical Intelligence," Ichigo sneered, "who did you think produced that Hellicarrier you used to transport your saggy ass ball here, huh? Who did you think build the blueprint of this tower you sleep in, huh?"

"Tony is the guy who turned Stark Industries from a million dollar company to a multination, multibillion-dollar company in one year, one of the largest and most important companies in the world, employing more than 500 thousands people worldwide in various field," he continued, still glaring dagger, "He's the one who single-handedly responsible for almost all of SI patents, received countless awards for various contributions to the engineering fields, computer programming and robotic. He was also the one who continued his mother's charitable work, helping thousands of people around the world. When he was gone for that three months, the whole world economy almost went into a catastrophe because their first donator was not here. They felt it immensely through the drop in SI stocks—even Japanese government took the brunt of it. But we're doing okay without you for seventy years."

"Nothing will ever change. He's still Tony Stark, the one who contributed all of those and sometimes, without demanding anything in return. You take his suits off? He could just build another one."

Everyone was struck speechless, even Tony.

(The inner Hollow inside him cackled evilly when his king showed them his hidden fangs.)

"I-Ichigo..." Tony started, "You know you didn't have too—"

"Shut up Tony," he spoke, "I've been bullied since I'm in grade school just because of my natural hair color. I know a bully when I saw one."

When Steve was ready to open his mouth to protest that statement—body shivered like crazy. Rukia always warned him not to leak his Reiatsu too much especially to a normal human, it could be a danger to them. Still, he huffed, he was sure Rukia will accept this slip-up—Ichigo straightened, a bit miffed that the Captain was a little taller than him. But with the blonde hunching unconsciously, buckled by the sheer power of his aura, he still stood taller than him and said.

"Let me rephrase your question then, Mr. Oh So Mighty.  _Big man with overgrown muscle and shield. Take that out and what are you?"_  he darkly chuckled (his inner hollow gleefully mixed his dark Reiatsu with his own, adding the intimidation factor and chocking the air around the Captain), "nothing. Not a single thing. Just a very desperate bloke trying to fit in in the war, never considered that your health will hinder the other soldiers."

"So don't...ever think that you're better than Tony," he stabbed his index finger to his broad chest, fire burning inside those fierce, brown orbs, "he's my friend and I will not let other people step on him like he is a mere rug. Not on my watch."

He vaguely realized Nyanko nodded in agreement and Takashi silently clapped in the background. Hanae smiled his precious bright smiles and Fuzzy, although he was rather afraid of his sudden spike of aura, blushed cutely.

Silence reigned over the tense kitchen. Nobody moved, nobody even talked. But it was shattered impressively when—

TONY-SAN!" Yuzu ran into the room and tackle-hugged Tony. The brunette was startled, but body steady enough to catch her, "I missed you!"

Karin stepped inside and nodded at her brother, "hey, Tony."

"Yuzu, Karin! You're here?!" Tony face, who was shocked at the entire dressing from Ichigo to the almighty Captain, brightened. He immediately switched to Japanese, even though he knew full well Yuzu and Karin will understand anything he said by the translation device he provided for them. He knew Natasha and Fury understand him. Thor, from his all-speaking skill. And Bruce traveled around the world long enough, he was sure the man acquired one or two languages to survived. It was just for the sake of pouring salt in the wound as the Captain didn't have any time to learn how the modern world work, let alone another language. Tony twirled Yuzu and hugged the giggling girl, "I missed you so much! How come you just visited me now?! I'm lonely! Your brother was so mean to me sometimes!"

Ichigo snorted amusedly. Looked like his anger finally subsided.

"Blame the annoying old man," the tomboy harrumphed, she smirked, "I've been wanting to visit your tower after Ichigo promised us your entertainment room. We wanted to surprise you too, by the way."

"You did! That was one hell of a surprise!" Tony laughed, "was Itsuki-chan the one who brought you here?"

"Who else? I'm the only one who could," the blonde man in question step out from behind the room, kimono rumpled but still looks presentable, "I'm gonna rest in the guest room. Legislator was so annoying, he was tiring me out..." and after murmuring that sentences to himself, he was gone.

The hologram inside the kitchen turned on, startling the Avenger. It showed a little banged up Danny, his face was covered with soot, "Tony! Your lab is ruined!"

"What?! Why?"

"According to my camera sir," JARVIS started (the butler was satisfied that three of the Heroes jumped in fright for the sudden voice but didn't see anyone around besides the kids), "Dum-E tried to help Mr. Danny, but his wheels caught onto the wire, stumbled onto Mr. Tucker that was holding a meat juice. Then the juice spilled onto Ms. Sam's head and Mr. Tucker's unfinished project, in which it exploded right on Danny's face. Ms. Sam was mad at Mr. Tucker and started shooting the ectoplasm gun."

"Don't worry, Tony. It's safe for a human." Sam voice could be heard.

"Hey! Don't let that slime spilled onto my works, you hear me?! Or I'll confiscate your toys!"

"Oh!" ignoring Tony whined, Sam leaned toward the hologram and stared at the newcomers, "are you the famous twin Tony kept talking about?"

"Hello, Danny, Tucker, Sam." Yuzu waved at the trio who were now huddling around the hologram to look into the room better, "my name's Kurosaki Yuzu and this is Karin. We're twins!"

"Hello!" Sam cooed, "you two are so cute. I can't believe you're the little sisters of that brute over there."

"Hey, come on now!" Ichigo stalked to the hologram, smirking all the way, "Karin here followed me. She's a total tomboy! Besides, you're a tomboy yourself."

"Detail, Ichigo. Detail~"

(The smallest child and her older brother definitely spoke in Japanese. They didn't know why but the American kids from the hologram could understand her just fine. And when one of them responded, the Japanese kids also understood their language even though they were totally speaking in English.)

(Romanova stared. Maybe it was because of that earphone inside their earlobe? She vaguely remembered Coulson was talking about this in their last meeting)

(And also, she glanced at the towering orange-haired teen, about that boy who found Coulson's bug right away)

"Can you help me with our project, Tony?" Danny beg, he pouted cutely though Tony didn't buy the act, "come on! Tucker is useless! Even though it was his idea in the first place!"

"Hey, I resent that!" it was Tucker's turn to protest.

Tony chuckled, "one minute boys...and girl. I have a promised to these cute little fellas here to show them our entertainment room. Oh, what about this?"

"Brucie bear, come here!" Bruce, who was silent at the entire debacle, tensed up when Tony pushed him to the attention, "this is Bruce Banner guys. I'm sure you know him, right?"

"Oh! The nuclear physics doctor!" Danny clapped while the doctor was confused (because, that was the first thing he mentioned? Not him turning into the Hulk?), "my parents really love your gamma radiation thesis you know! Some of the ecto-gun came from the idea of your writing."

Tony nodded enthusiastically, "see? I'm going to be busy trying to appease these runts," Karin kicked his leg lightly for that comment, "so you can borrow Brucie here for a bit."

"Wait, Tony," Bruce tried to protest, "you know that I can't—"

"Yes! Come on, yes!" Danny glowed at the mere idea, "come on, Mr. Bruce! You have to help me here! Tucker is so useless" (' _hey!'_ ), "and I know this project of us will be finished soon if he didn't accidentally spill the juice. We need a biology specialist for these, cuz I'm not very good about ghost biology or ectoplasm or whatever and—"

"Yes, yes!" Tony pushed Bruce toward the direction of the elevator, "now, Brucie. Help my kids there, will you? Don't worry, you don't have to be afraid about the Jelly Green Bean, Danny can handle it. Hanae-chan, can you show him the way?"

"On it, Tony-san!" Hanae, one of the presence the other member of Avenger almost forgot in the heat of that one-sided argument, exclaimed. He waved at his friends and Tony, glared at Steve and was out from the room, guiding the confused doctor to the far hallway.

"And now it's our turn. You girls up for the entertainment room?" they nodded simultaneously, "okay then. On we go! Come on, Takashi-chan~"

Takashi stood up from his chair. Being the polite boy he was, he bowed to everyone present even though that eyes glinted with anger when it settled onto the speechless Captain. Nyanko didn't have any issue to show his opinion blatantly though. As he jumped from Takashi's cuddled, despite the protest of the platinum-blonde boy, and kicked Steve's head before he landed on Tony's shoulder.

Takashi didn't apologize for that.

Wow. He must've been really angry.

And Tony and his family were gone, leaving the stunned spectator in the stunned silence.

* * *

"Romanova." Fury whispered.

"Yes, Director Fury."

"Find out about every kids that were present before. Especially how did Tony basically 'adopted' some foreign children without media knowing their existence."

* * *

While the spies were busy with their own plan, Thor looked at Tony's retreating back with calculation. He thought he was just imagining things but—

_Why did I sense the Mistress of Death presence from him?_

* * *

"You study well, Ichigo-chan," Tony smirked, "never realized you know me that well~"

"I mean...the man in question loved to boast about himself. Of course, some of it will stick in my head," Ichigo snorted and turned to the gloomy Takashi, "what was that bastard talking about before I was there?"

"The captain had been saying some bull about 'Tony only thinking about himself', that 'he didn't care about other people opinion'", Takashi started, looking glum. He actually wanted to scream bloody murder at the Hero himself, but he didn't think it'll nail the coffin shut like Ichigo did with his marvelous dressing down, "he was also looking at Ashiya-kun and I like we were just regular kids who know nothing. When we introduced ourselves as Tony's friends, he looked at us with pity, mumbling something about 'poor kids. They don't know what Tony Stark really is'. Freaking heck. He was the one who didn't know anything. Just because he watched one of the videos, he thought he was the genius here? Nyanko-sensei, can you help Danny-san when he decided to  _really_  punch him in the face? Ask Hinoe to put a curse on him. Preferably the one where he'll be rain by small bad luck to humiliate himself in the public."

"I will, Natsume," Nyanko cackled, "that kid's aura pissed me off too. So don't you worry."

Okay,  _fix_. Takashi was scary, even Ichigo shuddered at that.

"How could he said something so cruel?" Yuzu frowned. She looked so sad, "Tony is nice. He cares about other people."

"He was just stupid Yuzu, ignored that grandpa," Karin said. Tony chocked on his laugh at that. When you think about it, yes. Steve Rogers is an old man, "how did you know about the argument though, brother?"

"The Mistress seek my help," the air around Tony's shoulder shimmered and the said God appeared. Ichigo and Takashi nodded at her while Yuzu and Karin waved, "she said Tony need me. Lucky I came at the right time."

 _" **He was influenced by the Scepter that contained the Mind Stone,"**_  she explained,  _ **"it'll cause an unrest on human's mind, they'll become agitated easily. I'm sure Natsume Takashi, Ashiya Hanae, and Kurosaki Ichigo felt that."**_

They nodded. So that was the reason why Takashi turned super vicious and Hanae looked ready to smacked someone. The scepter may be contained in the underground of the tower. But the negativity already clung onto the Captain. And he leaked it out to the outer world and irritated the other people.

 _" **It was just a spur of a moment. But it was his true feeling,"**_  the Mistress hugged Tony, trying to calmed his pounding heart after the confrontation of a living legend that was totally different from everyone claimed he was supposed to be,  _ **"that was why I told you I don't want you to let that man inside your circle of friend. He'll realize his mistakes, apologies, but that first impression was all you need to judge his character. Because one of the Mind Stone function is forcing people to tell the truth."**_

That left a bitter taste in his mouth. His father's friend thought that he was better than everyone around? But Tony nodded.

He didn't need that man. He already has his own family that cares him as Tony and not the Stark media portrayed him to be.

* * *

**OMAKE**

As Romanova hacked into Japanese citizen database using her own laptop that night, to find out the identity of those foreign children besides their names, she found nothing.  _Tony_   _must've hidden their information already_ , she concluded. When she tried to hack into the billionaire's database though, the screen suddenly turned red. Showing her a yellow triangle with the word 'error' in the middle of it.

"Wha—"

Before the images changed into a big letter of 'J' and she knew that she was fucked.

"Ms. Romanova," the AI voice echoed inside her room, "as much as I want to kick you out immediately because of this, I'm not. Avenger still needed your skill. So refrained from trying to dig for information of sir's kids. Because I can erase you; figuratively and literally. I'm sick of going offline and leaving my owner under your supervision because you people were too curious for your own good. So heed this warning or you'll face the consequence. Because if Tony's surrogate family know about this, I can't stop them from skewering you, you'll be happy I get rid of you first.  _Good night."_

Her laptop crackled and turned off. The motherboard was destroyed beyond repair.

_...shit._

* * *

"I have to thank Lady Mistress for the advance warning," JARVIS said, satisfied after erasing every trace of foreign code in his system.

He also erased every data in Natasha's computer. Even the backup. Just because he could.

* * *

"By the way, what do you want to say to refute that argument if I didn't come?"

"That I'm a genius, billionaire, philanthropist and a playboy?"

"Aren't you already going steady with Pepper-san? Or do you have some women you hide from us?"

"Wha—cruel, Takashi-chan! 'course I'm not! Pepper will always be the apple of my life! The 'playboy' title was there because it kinda fit, that's all!"

"Really? I mean...you have a woman other than Pepper right over there, Tony~"

"Karin! The Mistress is practically my mom, not my girlfriend!"

_" **Oh, so you really saw me as the mother here. I'm flattered~"**_

_"GODDAMIT! I FELL RIGHT INTO THE TRAP!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You don't know how much I wanted to write that argument. Especially that 'Big man with overgrown muscle and shield. Take that out and what are you?'. Good job, Ichigo!
> 
> (Actually, that was also the main reason why I included Bleach for this series in the first place :'D )


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki should never try to threaten Tony. One of his kids will just turn a little bit bloodthirsty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Typo is my most loyal fan. Spelling mistakes because English is not my mother language. Possibly OOC. Fluff. NOT BETA so beware of grammar mistakes

Loki escaped.

Of course, he escaped.

He should've not trust Natasha when she said she had a way to convince the God of Lies to release Clint mind control. Because she manipulated a lot of people before—including Tony—so she believed she could do the same to Loki. Actually, no, Tony never trusted the red-haired woman to hold a negotiation with the cunning man. But of course, she only needed Captain America permission. Even though the tower was basically his.

The man in spangles himself avoided Tony like plague. Maybe because whenever he came, one of his protective kids flocked around him, barricading him with their own body.

For Takashi, he'll sit near Tony and let Nyanko roamed his piercing gaze around the occupant who dare looking at the brunette weirdly (and it always made the victim of his stare felt weird. Because it was a cat. A cat should never be that scary), talking animatedly about his school life while Tony listened with full attention.

For Hanae and Haruitsuki—the first already told the latter about the confrontation of Steve and Tony. The blonde scowled at that. He relaxed after he watched the recording of Ichigo's dressing down the Captain though—they'll talk about their job and how they finished it, giving an aura that nobody should ever disturb their conversation. Romanova may understand what they were talking about. But if she didn't believe in the world of Youkai, she'll never understand their topic a single bit.

For Ichigo, he'll glare whenever Steve was in the room, leaking his Reiatsu just a little bit to give him an uncomfortable feeling. He'll keep doing that until the bulky man was out of his sight (Steve will never tell anyone, but this is the first time in his entire life that he was scared of someone). Or, if he was with his sisters, they'll joke around, playing games from Tony's hologram JARVIS provided.

For Danny, he'll bring the useless metal from Tony's lab and crack it in half with one hand, to shows the Captain that he was not as weak as he looks, just because his body was a little thin for a high-schooler; definitely using his Ghost Strenght there. Or, if he was with Tucker and Sam, they'll busy themselves with cleaning their ghost weapons, asking Tony here and there about what should they add to the power output so it'll be easier to take down the ghost.

That was one time when Steve braved himself and scolded them for wielding weapons in control area, you're still kids, you shouldn't be playing with that, plus with 'Tony, I'm so disappointed with you' face.

"Steve, it's okay," Bruce clasped his hand on his shoulder, stopping him from his tirade, "that weapons are safe for them."

"What do you mean 'safe', doctor?" he furrowed, "no weapons are safe. Especially when children wield it."

Sam looked like she wanted to murder him for that comment.

"No. It's not a normal weapon. It's an Anti-Ghost weapon," when he saw Captain's confused face, he sighed, "you didn't know about it, didn't you?"

"Of course he didn't, Mr. Bruce," Danny chirped, too gleeful for it to be an innocent expression, "I mean...he thought Tony is still a weapon designer, who sells his weapon to a terrorist. Even though it was practically not a secret to everyone who  _bothers_  to watch their news, that it was his Godfather who sold them. Of course, he will not know anything about the existence of ghosts."

Steve wilted. Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose.  _Tony's kids can be very vengeful sometimes,_  he mussed,  _that was one hell of a jab._

"In Amity Town, ghosts are a daily occurrence for the citizen living in there. Nobody knows why they came and why they terrorized that particular town, but they exist. They do, believe me. I saw one myself. There were not like ghosts you saw from fairy tale books. They were visible, glowing green and can hurt a person as much as a human could. They couldn't be hurt by normal weapons. They need a special one, called...an ecto-gun, correct?" Danny nodded, "it shoots some kind of laser beam that made of ectoplasm, Ghost essence, therefore it can hurt the ghosts, weaken them so they can capture them and throw them back inside their zone, as Danny's parents here built the portal to their world. The weapons are harmful to the ghosts but not to humans itself. The ectoplasm will just stick to us like a slime."

As a demonstration, Tucker shot the wrist ray gently to Tony's cheek. He yelped in surprise, yet otherwise fine; the green gunk stuck on his face, dripping slowly onto the glass table.

"I'll get you for that kid!"

Tucker laughed.

"Everyone who is smart enough will always bring one weapon with them," Sam scoffed, "or you'll die in a day. Ghosts in our town are malicious. Not all of them, but the malicious one always caused collateral damages, we practically have a small scale war every single day."

"So screw off," Steve gasped at the use of the swear words, "if you don't know anything, don't even try to scold us. Read your book, watch the news, then you finally have the right to give us some pointer."

The conversation was cut short when the halfa gave the doctor a friendly grin and asked him about anything that was too difficult for Steve to understand. And after that day, he never pestered the trio or Tony ever again.

But back to the main problem here, Loki escaped. Tony cursed, blaming himself for letting Romanova went inside the jail room and 'negotiate'. Now, he was stuck in this situation. Of Loki walking inside his tower leisurely like he owned the place, while Tony tried to calm his beating heart and strapped the Iron Man watch on his wrist as a precaution.

"You didn't work well with those buffoons," the God started. His green eyes shifted, taking everything within his sight as he hummed, "why did you insist on building a camaraderie relationship with them baffled me. You said it yourself that you're more of a solo player."

"Well, I didn't want to work with them either; except Brucie and maybe Point Break. I didn't have time to talk with Legolas, so I couldn't really give my opinion about him," he shrugged, looking nonchalant even though his heart was hammering like crazy inside his ribcage. He poured a drink into the clear glass, just so his hand had something to do and not shivering with fright, "I have my family to protect me anyway. I don't need them. But the world needs the Avenger."

"Family, huh," he mocked, scepter thunk noisily on the tiled floor, "do you know that one of you will die soon?"

Tony's brain went to a halt.

His family? One of them? Will die soon?

Who?

Takashi, because some mean Youkai decided to take revenge on him, thinking that he was his grandmother?

Hanae and Haruitsuki, because Haruitsuki past came to bite him and Hanae was just a casualty?

Ichigo, because he has to fight in another war? Were his sisters another casualty?

Danny, because one of the ghosts succeed in killing him or his parents finally captured him and dissected him? Tucker and Sam tried to protect him but was killed in the process?

Who? Who who  _who who_ _—_

(Oh God, please no. He is not ready. They are still too young to die!)

(It's his fault. For involving them in this superhero gig he lives in. It's  _my_  fault)

_(My fault my fault my fau—)_

"Because I smell death from you," Loki continued, ignorant of Tony's inner turmoil. And that sentence woke him up from his stupor, "it was so thick, I can practically smell it from miles away."

Tony's tensed shoulder sagged in relief as soon as it came. Oh, so he just guessed, no evidence or the power of seeing into the future like Clockwork, the ghost Danny said is his other-worldly godfather. He laughed weakly at that, worrying over nothing. Because he knew what smell he mentioned just now, basically the first thing Nyan-Nyan told him when they were first introduced. He turned and face the confused Loki (he just told them one of his family will die. Or the man himself will die, he amended. Why is he laughing?) and grinned cheekily, "oh don't worry about that, Reindeer Deer. It was not the smell of death you sniffed. It was the smell of the Death."

"What was so different about tha—"

But Loki didn't have any time to finish his words. When Tony felt the air behind his shoulder shimmered, warped and shifted. And he knew the Mistress of Death was here, wrapping her bony hand around his neck like always. Though his gaze was focused on the shocked face of Loki. His green eyes rooted not on Tony but—

"You can see her?" he was surprised, "but Thor couldn't! I mean...you were always clinging onto me wherever I go, I'm sure we met Thor several times already!"

" _ **Tut tut, Tony. Who do you think I am?"**_  he messed Tony's lock with affection, he squawked,  _ **"I'm always in Youkai mode, for the lack of better word, whenever I'm with you and the kids. Or Shinigami mode, whichever word you prefer to say. Only some particular people could see me, people who have the Sight. I'm merely turning off the invisible mode and use my real form to let Loki the God of Lies see me. We came from the same realm after all."**_

Tony hummed and nodded in understanding.

"You—how did you—" Loki run out of words, pointed his index finger to the brunette, disbelief was written so clearly on his pale complexion, "how did a mortal such as you be blessed by the mere presence of The Mistress? And talking with her so crudely too!"

"Hey, I resent that! I'm a gentleman, I talk to her just fine," he huffed. With the Mistress besides him, his racing heart started to thump at a normal pace. He knew she will teleport him to the save place if she thought Tony's life is in danger; no matter how many times she told him she wanted to see him die in a spectacular way, "besides, we already knew each other for two years. Of course, we're best bud now~"

"Two yea—" Loki choked.

" _ **Loki Laufeyson,"**_ the Mistress' voice grew in tandem, thousands being echoed and coalesced into one, giving the scare of a lifetime to whoever heard it for the first time. He hasn't heard her using that voice for a while,  _ **"cease your attack and go back to your realm. I know Odin is wrong to hide your birthright, imprisoning you from your real family, making you killed them with your own hand. But that was not enough reason to doom another species to the same fate as Jotnar from the Jotunheim."**_

Hiding his birthright? Imprisoning and killing his real family by the order of his father? Tony shrugged. Someone has a daddy issue as big as him it seems.

Loki, hearing his past was leaked that easily to one of his enemies, straightened. He sneered and spat, "never. I'll show that old cot Odin that I am a way better leader than that baboon. Thor is childish and stupid, he'll lead the race of Asgardian to ruin."

The Mistress sighed, she looked dejected. She waved his hand, doing something to Loki as he unconsciously cried in shock, and said,  _ **"be my guest then. But let me remind you that I already gave you the chance."**_

"What are you—"

Yet for the second time, he didn't get to finished his question. When suddenly, he snapped his attention to the left and brought the scepter to his face, blocking the sudden attack of a big, butcher knife at the very last second; the air crackled and gave a bright spark as their weapon met.

It was Ichigo, clad in his Shinigami outfit, face determined and orbs glinting. He pulled back and swung his Zanpakuto to the side of Loki's abdomen. The God moved from the attack range and tried to teleport out of the room. But with another single wave from the Mistress, a barrier was instantly built around the perimeter, Loki smacked his head at it because he was a tad bit too slow. Seeing the enemy was not going anywhere, Ichigo resumed his fierce assault, forcing Loki to defend himself.

At least Loki has a skill other than scepter-waving, Tony nodded. That was one fatal weakness of every mage. The author of Harry Potter really needs to included hand to hand combat if she wanted him to be alive at the end of the series. What if he loses his wand? It'll be the end of him!

"Wait," he narrowed his eyes, watching the fight from the safe distance—their weapons met again and were staying there for a while as Ichigo tried to overpower Loki, "you said you were in Shinigami mode whenever you were around me and my kids. Loki couldn't see you before you turned the mode off. So, why can he see Ichigo? He's in his Shinigami form right now."

" _ **I lent him the Sight temporarily,"**_ she answered, flinging the debris away from their safe zone,  _ **"so Loki can fight with Kurosaki Ichigo in the same field."**_

Ichigo started, like he just heard something, and immediately stepped back. Loki was too slow and took the brunt of a green beam right on his chest, sending his whole body flying to the opposite wall. He couldn't see anyone, but Tony was sure that was Danny's ghost attack.

(And Tony also realized, wasn't that the Fenton Phone on his ear? Danny must've given Ichigo the instruction of his attack so the oldest senior could avoid it)

"But he couldn't see Danny-boy though."

" _ **I said fighting with Kurosaki Ichigo in the same field. I never said it included Danny Fenton-Phantom,"**_   _ooh that was so sneaky_ , Tony sniggered,  _ **"besides, you couldn't see him either when he used his invisibility skill."**_

Yes, it was something Tony whined at. The moment Danny knew the people who can See couldn't spot him when he was invisible, he decided it was the time for some prank. Sometimes, Takashi felt like someone was touching his shoulder but found nothing when he turned around. Sometimes, Haruitsuki staggered as he felt someone grabbed his ankle (Hanae just flat out fell to the ground, in which Danny laughed before he apologized. Hanae pouted). Sometimes, Ichigo found someone had stick several Iron Man stickers on his back without him noticing. They knew it was him, but they could do nothing to stop it because they didn't know when it will happen. As long as it was just harmless pranks, they didn't mind. Though Ichigo grumbled, pulling off all of these stickers were annoying and  _tedious as hell I'm gonna pay you for this, Danny just you wait!_

Loki let out a wave of fire, forcing Ichigo to step back for a moment before he resumed. The God snarled in frustration, clearly started to get tired while the orange-haired teen in front of him didn't even sweat. It was such a humiliation for a higher being like him. He became more and more agitated because he needed to count on the invisible attacker he still couldn't pinpoint as well. He only nailed Danny twice, his magic sensed his aura; flickering and too dim for him to attack at the exact point-blank. The first was avoided easily, though Danny yelped in surprise and it disclosed his position. The second grazed Danny's shoulder, it made him lose control of his invisibility as he tried to reign his scream from coming out (Tony almost went away from the Mistress protection to help the halfa). Loki could only widen his eyes in shock—as he finally realized the other enemy was way younger than Ichigo, it hurt his pride—before Danny gave a weak cheeky grin and turned invisible again. Their combo attack continued.

It was laughably easy, Tony rose an eyebrow. For all he boasted about his superb in the art of magic, that he was the best mage in all Asgardian, he couldn't even overpower Ichigo. Granted, the senior himself has a rather large quantity of Reiatsu, giving him a boost in strength and stamina. Danny too, with his Ghost power. They have been doing an extreme work out tirelessly in their whole life of a teenager the moment they decided to be a Hero. So that must be the problem. And they fought over-powered villains one after the other without resting. So, as much as Tony regret that he couldn't make them stay away from the dark side of the world, these two kids of his has experienced.

Loki sprawled on the floor, green orbs glinted maliciously with a tint of fear as Ichigo loomed over him, Zanpakutou pointed right on his throat. Danny, he turned himself visible and gave the God his cocky smirk, kicked the scepter away from him. Ichigo growled, brown eyes flashed, "you lose, Loki. Surrender now or I'll have to end you."

Ichigo will not. He's a protector and not a mindless killer. But let just made him believe that he will.

The God of Lies chuckled, rasped and patchy. He wheezed and said, "you're too naive, boy. I may lose to you, but my fleets will not."

Danny furrowed, "what fleets?"

"The fleets that I will ask Dr. Selvig to summon for me," he snapped his finger, "right at this instant."

Ichigo realized the implication a bit too late as he swirled, "Shit!"

But the Scepter was already gone.

"Tell me where you'll open the portal!" when Loki didn't speak, Ichigo stabbed the ground near his face—Loki flinced—and snarled, "tell me. Or I'll send you to the Gate of Hell."

He didn't know if that will even work on him, as he didn't come from this world. And a God too. But he knew the Gate of Hell was where one of the Mistress of Death's territory lay. He was sure she will have a  _good_  time punishing this pest.

Judging from the wince on Loki's face, he had the same thought as him (and realized that the boy in front of him was not a mere human but a Shinigami that work under the Mistress).

"Sir," JARVIS voice echoed inside the room, startling the occupant present, "doctor Selvig is on the roof of the tower. He told the Chitauri to guard the entrance and don't let anyone come in as he'll use the arc reactor as the energy to open the portal."

 _That was convenient,_  Tony sweatdropped.

"I got it!" Danny flew through the roof, turned invisible before he could smack himself on the ceiling.

It was silent for a couple of minutes that stretched like a couple of hours. Ichigo still didn't shift his penetrating gaze on Loki. While the man himself trying to look like he was not disturbed by the mere presence of Ichigo, though he was certainly failing. Tony stood awkwardly on the counter, felt bad he didn't have a place to help them fight the God. However, the Mistress hand still clasped tightly on his shoulder, forbidding him from moving away from the safe zone. It felt like an eternity, before the speaker inside the room crackled—the earphone on Ichigo's ear as well—then JARVIS obligingly opened the camera feed of the rooftop. It was...doctor Selvig?

But that grin, Tony realized, it was Danny's trademark grin.

Oh yeah. He was talking about his ghosts abilities before. In his repertoire of many, possession was one of them. Though he didn't really like using it because it brought back the bad memories when he was being controlled by the Ringmaster. Gave him a lot of trouble and bad reputation, it did.

"Sorry I couldn't stop him from opening the portal," Danny/Selvig scratched the back of his nape, scepter on his other hand, "but at least it's not widening? The Chitauri will have to take a turn coming into the earth. Like a conga line~"

"H-How?" Loki stammered, "Dr. Selvig is under my mind control!"

"How indeed?" Tony wondered, he started theorizing, "mind control versus possession...maybe because possession almost has the same effect as mind control? The difference of it that you have to be the one who uses the body while with mind control you just have to give him the order. So it negates each other and because Loki was not in possession of the scepter, he couldn't renew his mind control and—"

"Danny, can you try to close to portal now?" Ichigo spoke on his communication device, ignoring Tony's mumble.

"Let me think," he cupped his chin between his fingers, trying to dig inside the mind of the genius, "I think I do. Can't really throw all of this Chitauries that was already here through there tho'. But don't worry, I have an idea!" Danny/Selvig tap his Fenton phone and said, "Sam, Tucker, you ready?"

The said friends of his were out of the tower; Tucker on the front porch and Sam was on the other side of the building. On their hands were a big Fenton bazooka, perched cooly on their shoulder, "we're ready, Danny!"

With one thrust of the scepter, the portal slowly but surely close. Tucker and Sam started their role, shooting every Chitauri they met with the bazooka. But instead of a normal laser beam, it opened the man-made Ghost portal and sucked them inside.

They need to thank Wulf for letting Tucker collecting the data of how he created a natural ghost portal after this.

Danny flew out from Selvig's body—the old man fell down and looked around in confusion—and zoomed toward Sam, invisible. After hearing the instruction that the halfa was coming closer, the goth girl threw the portable Fenton bazooka into the air as Danny caught it. The fingerprint detector on the handle blipped, accepting the bearer and assembling the bazooka into its true form. Danny changed back to his human form (didn't want any media to record his appearance. It'll confuse people as of why the 'enemy' of Amity Town was in New York), doing a triple-somersault, landed on the wrecked ground gracefully, cocked the gun and smirked.

" _It's time to rumble~"_

* * *

After giving the Mistress his patent puppy-eyes, saying that he's the hero here, he needs to help his kids to battle the Chiaturi and _come on, they looked like they were having fun with that gun I wanna try it myself!_

Ichigo said that he wished to help, but he was busy with keeping an eye on the shocked God; still couldn't believe his invasion was utterly destroyed.

It ended as quickly as it comes. As the other Chitauri that were already on earth was defeated by the member of the Avenger, they only need to attack the one-that-just-came-out-from-the-small-portal. With one final shot from Danny, the battle was over.

"This prototype of yours is a massive success, guys!" Tony gleefully informed, inspecting the bazooka to the nook and cranny, "using the fingerprint detector to activate the gun. And will explode right in the face of someone that was not registered into the database. Very good, perfect score!"

"Tony!" he turned around, watching the other member of the Avenger coming toward their location, "what are you doi—did you really just asked the children to _fight?"_

"Uuh, hello. Remember where we are coming from?" Sam rolled her eyes, "Amity Park? A town that was terrorized by the ghost? Have a small-scale war every day?"

"Yes! But this is different!" the Captain knitted his eyebrows, disapproval clear on his battered face, "this is a full out battle, with aliens! You could've died! Tony, how could you allow them to do this?"

Tony shrugged, didn't feel any remorse watching that eyebrows united, "I'm not. They volunteered. If I couldn't stop them, better joined them"

"Besides," Danny smugly said, "we cause less collateral damages than you guys. Just shoot the beam to them and boom. They are now in the Ghost zone~"

The Captain flinched at that, Romanova bristled, while Thor, Bruce, and Clint felt guilty. It was true though. When the kids started shooting that green-laser beam on the Chitauri, no building was destroyed anymore. The citizen stopped panicking, be it from the alien trying to kill them or the debris that rained upon them because the Avenger throws the aliens, or the other way around, on the building they took a shelter of.

"By the way, where did that aliens arrive at, Tucker?" Danny asked.

"We sent...what? Twenty-eight? Thirty-two of them?" Tucker was doing the calculation on his PDA, "I tried to separate the quantity fairly and coordinated the portal into Princess Dora's and Skulker's lairs. I'm sure Dora will love having more servants on her castle and Skulker will be delighted to have another new species in his collections. I send a message to Skulker's PDA. Hope it'll keep him busy and will not bother Dani for a while."

* * *

True to his words, Princess Dorathea was happy to have other servants to help her take care of the castle. They tried to attack her at first, but with her changing into the dragon form, they cowered quickly enough.

While Skulker cackling like crazy, shooting his gun at the running Chitauri. He'll thank the halfa boy after this. And maybe stop hunting him.

 _Nah. Not happening,_  he caught the dead Chitauri and went for another one. Phantom will always be his primary target.

* * *

"Oh, by the way, Point Break," Tony hefted the bazooka on his shoulder, "Loki is in the kitchen. Better hurry up and restrained him before he regained his strength. Use the elevator this time, okay?"

"Really, Man of Iron?!" he exclaimed, surprise, "I thank you for your assistance in capturing my brother, then!"

"Eeh, I'm not helping that much. Danny and Ichigo do all the beating."

"Ichigo?" Thor tilted his head, "but he is just a human."

"A human with a black belt in Karate and 4-dan in Kendo?" Tony countered, he boasted with pride, "not gonna lie, Point Break. Your brother was proficient in his magic. And his hand-to-hand combat was not bad either. But Ichigo still came out on top,"  _and that he's a half-shinigami_ , "give your thanks to Danny and him."

Thor nodded. He smiled his thousand-watt smile and patted Danny's back jovially, he almost stumbled, "thank you, young warrior! Now, excuse me as I'll apprehend my brother!"

Danny grumbled but smile nonetheless. As Thor ran into the tower, Tony turned, "now, do you want to stand around and keep doing your preach? Or do you wanna go inside and treat that wounds? And Brucie also needs his clothes. Must be freezing with only a boxer."

Bruce blushed in mortification but didn't disagree. Steve looked like he was really considering to continue his, what Tony called, preaching. Yet looking at the exhausted members—Clint's eyelids dropped before he shook himself awake and blinked rapidly—he shook his head. Besides, as much as it pained him to be told by the children, they were right. The battle had ended, the citizen was saved, and he should be thankful for that.

The moment Thor arrived at the kitchen, he was confused when he saw Loki just sprawled on the floor, glaring at nothing and didn't even try to stand up. Although, he concentrated, he felt a Death aura around the kitchen. But he shook his head and started speaking, "brother—"

"I'm not your brother, Thor!" he instantly sneered, like it was an automatic retort he prepared for that particular words.

"I'm sorry, Loki. I—"

"Save it," he spat. He slowly shifted his body, eyes still boring at the empty air, and sat at the cracked floor, "if you want to capture me and bring me back to that bastard Odin, just do it. I don't even care anymore."

When Thor, glumly but determinedly, strapped the shackles on his brother's wrist, Ichigo vanished his Zanpakuto back into his mind. He vaguely saw the Mistress watching from afar waved her hand and Loki's eyes widened. The green-orbs God swiveled his head right and left, Ichigo rose an eyebrow. Huh, he couldn't see him again, it seems. Then the botched invasion really was over if Death decided it was the right time to take back the Sight. Ichigo could finally sigh in relief.

He stepped out of the kitchen, intended to go back to his human body and check his sisters; Yuzu must be scared and restless right now. Karin too, whatever she said that she wasn't. And Hanae will walk around in a circle, trying to calm the girl but get worried himself. Haruitsuki then smacks him to stop fretting and Takashi laughing for their antics in the background. When he was out though, he saw the rest of the Avenger coming around toward the location. He nodded at his friends, receiving the subtle tilt of their head as the answer. As the Mistress of Death went back to her favorite perch though, he caught one of the member's eyes shifted.

 _Huh_ , Ichigo mussed,  _that was a surprise._

Tony must be happy to find another one then.

* * *

**OMAKE**

Just as he thought, the media wanted an answer. The other heroes were busy with the relief force, helping them on disposing the body of the alien that escaped Tony's and the trio's Fenton bazooka. So Tony decided to hold a press conference; and really, he didn't believe anyone other than him to answer those sharks that were called 'the Media'. Captain America, as much as he could shout propaganda and convinced people, was too hung up on the ideology of 'the world is black and white', the media will sure ask him something that he couldn't really answer and they'll twist his words into something terrible. Romanova will use her cunning skills to deceit them. And, with the Mistress warning about her, also his past with her, he couldn't trust her not to destroyed his images as it was. Clint was seeing a psychiatrist right now. He felt so bad he killed his own comrades even though he had done that under the mind control of the God. While Bruce...Tony didn't have the heart to force him to accompany him on the press. He was stressed enough with Ross breathing right at his neck, media's attention will only burden him more.

Here he was then, with his charming smile and black sunglasses, ready to answer their questions. What was those alien, he said it was Chitauri. Was that really Captain America, he said yes he was. Was that really _an_ alien, he said yes it was please question me with something more intelligent. How did the portal closed and why did it opened in the first place, he said the villain mind controlled the good doctor he will not say his name and forced him to do his bidding and one of his employees succeed in stopping him before the portal was opened fully, again he will not say his name. Will you join the Avenger, he said  _nope_.

That caught them off guard.

"I'm just a consultant, they said," he nonchalantly shrugged, "I love helping people as Iron Man. But I have my own company to be taken care of. I'm the main leader of R&D section. Can't be the man in charge if I was too busy being an Avenger, right?"

"Here is what I'm going to tell you," his brown eyes turned serious, the media straightened. They haven't seen that stare again, not after the moment he closed his weapon industry and telling the truth about his Godfather dark scheming, "I appreciate them trying to recruit me. I appreciate them creating the Avenger in the first place. What I don't appreciate was they were trying to be on my good side, dangling the carrot in front of me, using my resources to do their bidding and claiming it was for the sake of Justice. Agent Coulson was now gone. And, as much as I don't like him working for the Agency, he was a good person and I never wanted him to be dead. If this is what they called Justice, then fuck it. I'm not going to do it. I rather work solo and trying to save people as much as I could, apologize right on their family's face for those who I couldn't save—bowing my head if I have to—rather than justifying my failure as a 'casualty'"

The media was silent, even the camera stop snapping the pictures.

One of the brave reporters raised his hand. He was trembling though, "then...Mr. Stark. You'll not let them use your tower as their base?"

Tony smiled, his goofy mask was back but the media was not fooled at all, "nope. They can stay at SHIELD base for all I care. They don't need my resources to 'save' the people after all. They have some people that they can sacrifice~"

That was...a morbid thought. The media decided not to open that can of worms

* * *

"What about the children?"

"What children?" ah, Christine Everhart. His 'arch-nemesis'. He smirked when the blonde gave him the Look. Man, she was always so intense with him. At least she was one of the media that colored him not with flowers or disaster, but with the truth and the only truth. It was so hard to find that kind of media in this day and ages, you know.

"The citizen said they saw children running around the town, shooting a bazooka and made the Chitauri disappear," she slowly started, "what do you say about this claim?"

"Like you said, it was only a claim. No evidence, not true~" it was a fact. The media didn't have any evidence on Danny and co. about their involvement in the fight, he made sure JARVIS erased every single bit of them. But rather than making them guess and print the entirely wrong information, better give them a half-truth, "they are not children. They are some expert I hired from Amity Town. You must've known what town that was."

They nodded in tandem. The ghosts in Amity Town were really famous, even the other country government ordered the anti-Ghosts shields from the Fenton family just in case, Danny told him before.

"The expert had an idea to send the Chitauri to the Ghost Zone to minimize the casualties. Right at Skulker's lair," the media went into crazy when they heard that. Of course, they also knew Skulker. He was one of the stubborn ghosts who loved to pick a fight with Phantom, the enemy of Amity Park and self-proclaim Hero (along with Box Ghost. But come on! Nobody took him seriously), "as you all know already, Skulker is a 'very skilled hunter'. He'll burn them dead, so you don't have to worry about them escaping the Zone~"

"Can you divulge us the identity of the ghosts expert you hired?" Christine never gives up,  _sheesh_.

"Nope~" he smiled, eyes closed, "I love attention, but I don't want you, people, to hog them like the awesome me. Let them have their privacy, 'kay?"

After one heated glare, Christine relented. At least he didn't entirely deny the claim, so it was good enough.

* * *

It was a little difficult to tell the worried parents that their children are all fine. Touko-san and Shigeru-an almost cried in relief. Isshin actually cried, in which Ichigo snatched his phone from Tony's grip and yelled at him to stop being so immature. He didn't actually get a phone-call from Itsuki-chan's parents (and, he grimaced, did his parents even still alive? He never talked about them before and Tony didn't want to intrude. He knew how painful it was to lose your parents. Not that Tony thought Haruitsuki is an orphan. He just...never heard the blonde mentioned anything). Hanae already called his family so they didn't file any complain to Tony.

Speaking about complain, Sam's parents sure were exhausting. He told them that their girl is alright but they didn't want to hear anything and demanded him to fly her back to Amity. No wonder the feisty goth want nothing to do with them. Because despite Pepper, the sweetest woman ever, started to get fed up too. It was solved rather peacefully when Sam, following the step of Ichigo, snatched her phone back, screamed and told them not to baby her anymore.

This girl is going to be just fine in the future.

Danny's and Tucker's parents were the opposite of Sam's; with the first were happy their kid fight back like a true Fenton should be (definitely knew from the get-go who was the expert from Amity Tony told the media yesterday. Jazz, his sister still worried sick for her baby brother though) while the latter just shrugged their shoulders and said Tony is a superhero, they believed in the billionaire to protect them.

His heart swelled at that.

And if his smile was a little wide and expression serene, nobody said anything.

* * *

Clint hesitated, hand froze on the air, the other clutched the brown portfolio. He...didn't know why he decided to come to the Stark Tower. From the press three days ago, he didn't want any member of the Avenger to be inside his humble abode.

(Except Bruce. Although he was a special case as he never wanted to be an Avenger anyway. So the moment the battle end, he refused the offer. Though when the man tried to run away again, Tony halted him and bribed him with the awesomeness of his science lab. He considered to refused anyway, but the puppy-eyes of Tony Stark and Danny Fenton were too powerful. He couldn't help but agree)

Speaking about that press, Steve patented the usual 'I'm disappointed with you' expression. Romanova was fuming with silent anger. While Director Fury just sighed, he mumbled 'of course he'll see through the ruse easily. He's Tony Stark'. But the brunette just waved cheekily as he basically kicked them out of his tower.

So, why did he come here again?

(Maybe because he couldn't bear the stare. Couldn't bear the guilt)

He was alone in the guest area, waiting for the employee to call Stark. As he pondered in silent, the door open and the orange-haired teen he saw before was walking out from the elevator. His eyes didn't look hostile, but he didn't smile either, "Clint Barton, right?" Clint nodded, "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. Just call me Ichigo."

Ah, this is Tony's kids that helped Danny capture Loki then.

"Why are you here?" he folded his arms in front of his chest, "I thought Tony clearly said he didn't want any member of Avenger to be here."

Clint smirked, though it was weak, "I'm not Avenger. I'm not even SHIELD member anymore," Ichigo rose one of his eyebrows at that, "they didn't want me there, you know. Sure, Loki mind controlled me. But that doesn't mean it was not my hand that killed them. The police said they died in the crossfire, basically a 'casualty'" he spat that word with venom, "so they didn't really imprison me. Just a probation for one and a half year. I chose to quit."

"Then...why are you here?"

"I want to apply for a job. I can be a guard or a chauffeur or whatever. I brought my files," he said, showing him the portfolio he brought, "I know it was too much to ask but...SHIELD erased my identity. They worried I'll leak some important information, even though my rank was not high enough to know that many secrets. After the invasion, my face was known. I couldn't use any names from my aliases to apply for other jobs."

"So you decided to come to Tony."

Clint nodded.

"You know, it was a right thing for you to quit that agency. Our trusted informant told us to take everything SHIELD said with a grain of salt. Guess even one of their member realized that," he snorted, "but tell me the truth here. Why do you want to open the new leaf?"

Huh, he realized. Looked like Tony's kids was as genius as him, "I want to protect my family," Ichigo was startled at that, "I have a wife and two children, the third is still inside the womb. SHIELD dismissed Coulson's death just like that, without a funeral and using it entirely to make us Avenger united. He was our friend, you know. What if they decided it was okay to sacrifice my family too?!"

(Laura cried when he arrived at home after  _the_ battle. Cried for the lost life of Coulson. Cried for the horrible thing Clint had to go through when Loki mind controlled him)

_(I can't take this anymore. Please, I don't want you to work with them again. Please, Clint)_

(And the next day, Clint gave Director Fury his resignation form)

"That's good at least. You still have your heart in a right place," he saw Ichigo grinned at him. The piercing glare he sent him lessened and he looked more relaxed now, "keep that promise of yours close and we will accept you."

Clint didn't know he held his breath until he finally let out a long sigh. He never had any job interview before. The only place he worked before was the circus and SHIELD; the agency was also the one who recruited him, not the other way around. He smirked, now a lot more genuine, "thanks. I owe you one."

* * *

"By the way," Clint started to open another conversation, "you're a Japanese?"

"Yeah, how did you know that?" Ichigo asked back, "I'm sure my accent was gone by now by speaking the language often enough."

"Your name is a little odd for an American," he snorted when Ichigo huffed and mumbled something like 'at least he didn't call me a Strawberry', "and you're wearing a black hakama right now. I heard you're 4-Dan in Kendo, Tony said before? That must be the uniform from your dojo then and—"

"Yo, Legolas! Nice seeing you here~" the said billionaire suddenly came and cut their conversation short, however. Tony's eyes shifted to Ichigo for a split second but he didn't react—in which Clint thought was weird. Maybe they have an argument? He was worried for the kid because he jumped into the fight himself and didn't let the professionals do their job? Tony sounded proud when Ichigo defeat Loki though—he grinned wide and said, "sorry I'm late. Hope you're not bored and ragged yourself tired."

"Oh, it's okay. I should be the one apologizing for barging into your place without informing first," he smiled and waved at Ichigo, "besides, Ichigo here kept me busy enough with our conversation."

The second that words came out from his mouth, however, he knew he did something wrong. As Tony's eyes widened and jaw hung open. He pointed to Ichigo, then to Clint, "wait. You can see him?!"

"Huh?"

"Then can you see her too?!" he said, ignoring the archer confused gaze and pointed his finger at the skeleton girl that hugged Tony from behind, giggling. Clint stared at her, absorbing her feature, trying to be subtle yet Tony saw that movement anyway, "you can! Oh my god, you can see Them!"

"...huh?"

Clint saw Tony's joyous expression.

He saw the skeleton shrugged her shoulder.

And he saw Ichigo smirked knowingly.

.

.

" _WAIT A SEC! YOU'RE A GHOST?!"_

"Danny bet you'll freak out after seeing the Mistress and not me if you really can See," Ichigo chuckled, "he owes me a bottle of juice and two days without pranking after this~"

* * *

This is my fanart for [Protection Squad](https://novirp.deviantart.com/art/Protection-Squad-744594135?ga_submit_new=10%3A1526127557)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know Zanpakutou cannot hurt humans. But Loki is not really a human soooo...*shrug*
> 
> OOC Clint is hereee~~
> 
> Come on. He's my second favorite after Tony. CW just ruined him completely, at least let him be a good person that held his family very dearly in this fic
> 
> And yeah... the mangaka never mention anything about Abeno's parents. In the latest chapter, they were only talking about Aoi, Abeno's previous boss, disguised themselves as Ashiya's father. So...I don't want to guess because maybe they'll play an important part in Abeno's childhood.
> 
> Fukigen na Mononokean is the only manga that doesn't have that much information to go on in this series of mine. Even in Natsume Yuujinchou, Reiko's past was a little bit revealed (for those who didn't know, Reiko was pregnant without marrying, nobody knows who's the father. Maybe it was just me guessing or a mistake in translation, but it sounded like a Youkai impregnated her).
> 
> Eeehhh...the reason why I inserted Fukigen in this crossover was just because of the Mononokean lol.


End file.
